This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Griffin: Blue Jays bolster backstop options

Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos never wants to be “left naked” at either shortstop or catcher; that fear of exposure helps explain his surprising acquisition of veteran catcher Miguel Olivo from the Colorado Rockies.

Toronto Blue Jays catcher John Buck dives after a pop foul off the bat of Colorado Rockies' Clint Barmes in the third inning of the Rockies' 10-3 victory in a baseball game in Denver on Sunday, June 13, 2010. Buck did not catch the ball. (David Zalubowski / AP)

Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos believes shortstop and catcher are the most important positions. As such, he insisted he never wants to be “left naked” at either position. That fear of exposure helps explain the surprising acquisition of veteran catcher Miguel Olivo from the Colorado Rockies, even with incumbent John Buck set to be offered arbitration on Nov. 23, with Jose Molina’s option already picked up and with Pacific Coast League MVP J.P. Arencibia chomping at the bit.

“We need to continue to have our options, continue to have our alternatives,” Anthopoulos said Friday of the apparent logjam behind the dish. “Olivo was a guy we had interest in last off-season. We still continue to have an interest in John Buck. But we’re in the free-agency period and we don’t know where the market for John is going to go. It allowed us to have dialogue with Olivo’s agent last night. It allowed us to explain to him the way things are going for us in the off-season.”

Both Buck and Olivo are Type B free agents, as ranked by the Elias Sports Bureau. What that means is that if either man signs with another team, the Jays would receive a June 2011 draft pick in a special compensatory round between the first and second rounds (31st to 50th overall).

At the time Olivo was acquired from the Rockies on Thursday night, Colorado was about to buy out his option season for $2.6 million (all figures U.S.). They were not going to offer Olivo arbitration for a one-year deal on Nov. 23, thus rendering him a free agent. Anthopoulos found out and called Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd, swinging the deal for a player to be named later or cash.

The Jays then became the team that, within three hours of the trade, bought out Olivo’s 2011 contract, a move that would lead down the same path the Rockies were about to follow. The initial and logical public reaction was that Anthopoulos was buying the contract merely to get the Type B draft compensation. It’s somewhat akin to buying the daily newspaper just for the coupons.

Article Continued Below

That was not the case. Either Olivo or Buck will indeed be the starting catcher in 2011. The Jays know they will lose the other in free agency, but in Anthopoulos’ mind, he can’t lose regardless of who stays. Last winter, when they signed Buck, the other catcher they wanted was Olivo.

“When we signed Buck, we were really agonizing over, at the time, Olivo and Buck,” Anthopoulos explained. “I remember having a conversation with (former manager) Cito (Gaston) about it. Collectively, we elected to go with Buck. Knowing that John’s a free agent and as we continue to gather information, whether it’s just getting a sense of the market, it seems to be, and rightfully so, that the market for John Buck is going to be incredibly strong.”

The negotiations by Anthopoulos with the two catchers’ agents will pit one Buck and Olivo against each other, though not literally. It sounds as if Anthopoulos believes the better deal can be reached with Olivo. By taking over and paying the $500,000 buyout, the Jays were buying significant one-on-one time with the agent. As soon as the deal was done with Colorado, the Jays were able to call Olivo’s agent and talk to him about the club’s intentions and their year-old history of coveting his client. Otherwise, Anthopoulos would have had to wait until Sunday, a 72-hour window he considered worth the half-million-dollar buyout. Besides, he now gets draft-pick compensation no matter which catcher leaves.

“When you look at the fact that we were able to have that dialogue with one of the better catchers on the market,” Anthopoulos said of the buyout/investment, “we wanted to make sure he was the right fit and knowing that we could continue to talk to him, could continue to retain his rights through the salary arbitration process, the flexibility that offered us was worth the value of the buyout.”

Anthopoulos is convinced, either way, he has his man behind the plate for 2011. He just doesn’t know which one, although he has strong suspicions it will be Olivo.

As for closer Kevin Gregg, when the Jays chose Thursday to turn down his option at a very reasonable $5.25 million for one year or $9.25 million for two, it sent a clear message that his one-year, 37-save Jays career is over. The move was made in consultation with manager John Farrell. There are other options on the market and the Jays appear ready to explore one.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com